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Sunrise on He
Devil. Scott, Brian and I arrived above Sheep Lake the night
before, traversing to camp high for an early assault on the slide
- but Brian and Scott recognized Tyler down at Sheep Lake, so we
descended and spent the night
Tyler and Matt, in trying to take the shortcut, took a very
LONG way in to Sheep - dropping below and around Mirror and then over
the north shoulder of Babel. It took them five hours to get into Sheep
- us only over an hour. Further, their radios could not transmit
to our frequency, they could only receive.
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We were on the
mountain by 6 am, and at the top of the slide by 8. We dropped to
the west and down, then angled east up to the pass between Cannon and
Hanson - perfect. Three goats broke out into view in the scrub on
the other side - climbing toward the Ogre. They then turned
around and we would meet them at the pass.
The ... slide
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Here are the nanny
goat and kid hiding behind.
The
fur shedding from the nanny looked like the tail of a cougar ... when I
first saw the nanny I asked myself if goats had long tails - then hand
to remind myself - `no'. |
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Above Hanson Lakes.
We decided not to drop down.
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At perhaps the
highest lake in the range, I shed all but my underwear, and took a
swim. It felt fantastic ... for once the mosquitoes subsided.
I call the lake the `high camp lake' ...
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From high camp we
headed west over a saddle above Purgatory Lake. Falling rocks
suggested a goat was 100 or so yards to our south - but I never saw
it. The descent to Purgatory was pretty grueling - we agreed it
was a one-way adventure - coming back up would not be fun.
Triangle Lake is beyond.
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Purgatory had a few
big disinterested fish. Towering to the south is the Devils Farm
mountain - in my opinion the fiercest in the range.. |
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I caught a limit of
cutthroat trout in Triangle.
Scott had switched to the Tyler - Matt team. They took a
`shortcut' from Sheep to Echo - but got bogged down on some cliffs
coming down. While in radio contact at Triangle - Scott said not
to talk as he was trying to get down some cliffs. I couldn't
answer at times because I had fish on the line - but I had the mercy
not to say so.
Brian caught his first cutthroat.
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We beat the Tyler
team to Echo ... once there Tyler caught a fish - and added to ours -
we had a nice fry.
These are the fish from Triangle.
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Scott and Brian at
Echo Lake as we head out.
Devils Farm is distant. |
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Going out we took
the loop trail from the Echo Lake trail to the Sheep Lake trail.
Echo Lake is one of the lower lakes in the range - here is the trail
coming out.
Trail to Sheep Lake ... pics
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Here is Baal and
the slide from Sheep to the top of Cannon. |
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While at the pond
at Sheep we took a good break. I went down to undies and
swam. Scott rested. Brian climbed for fresh water.
While getting stuff together Scott motioned toward the pond - I knew
something was up. A nice billy had come down during all of the
commotion and was getting a drink in the pond.
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I got to within 8
yards of the billy - almost too close for comfort - as he was coming at
me as I was assaying to find more memory on my camera - but to no
avail. But the look on his face indicated I was safe.
He climbed up `Goat Pass' trail and laid down under an
overhang. I would again get amazingly close ... pics
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